Pages

Sunday, February 13, 2011

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Tyler Florence. Yeah, yeah-- he's cute. But, so is my husband. That's all that matters, right? I've hung on to these unposted photos of last year's Valentine's Dinner that I made for Craig for a year! Why didn't I post these sooner? I meant to. Alas, I found myself not being happy with the photos of the plated dinner. I rushed the shots, because...well, it was Valentine's Day and we were hungry. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I decided to get over myself, because this dinner was memorably delicious-- and it's time to share the photos whether I like them or not! The real story behind this dinner menu was seeing Tyler Florence make this on one of his Ultimate shows on Food Network. I was so impressed with the simplicity of all three recipes, that I decided to make this for my man, last Valentine's Day. As I edited the photos, my taste buds remembered how delicious this dinner was-- and I am definitely going to make this again. This is easy enough for beginners, and it will impress anyone if you make this:

You want fresh filet of sole. In my case, I used tilapia, because fresh sole wasn't available. You want white wine-- but I favor Dry Vermouth for cooking. You also want slivered almonds, fresh lemon, fresh Italian parsley and shallots. First, I'll show you how to make Tyler's Lemon Smashed Potatoes.

Unlike the tradition way of making mashed potatoes, you use Yukon Gold potatoes. No peeling, no cutting-- put them into a pot, whole and add cream and milk (I used 2% milk). Bring to a boil over medium heat, then add 1 teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. NOTE: Cooking times vary-- mine took more like 40 minutes to cook. Easy!

Remove about 2 cups of the liquid and reserve. Add the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes while adding about 1 cup of the reserved liquid, to just 'wet’ the potatoes.Add more, for desired creaminess. Spoon the potatoes into a serving bowl and serve immediately. NOTE: You can keep the potatoes warm, on very low heat. The extra milk/cream can be added right before serving. Works beautifully!

Dee-lishus!

After starting the potatoes boiling, I'd move on to prepping the green beans:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim off the tough end of the beans and arrange the beans on a nonstick cookie sheet.Drizzle with olive oil season with salt and pepper, to taste.Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and bake until the cheese melts and forms a crisp shell over the beans, about 10 minutes.Let the beans sit a few minutes for the cheese to cool slightly. Lift the beans out onto a platter and serve.

Back to the fish:

Set a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Add the almonds and toast until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and set aside.

Return the pan to medium heat (if you have 2 pans you can work simultaneously at this point, i.e. 2 fillets per pan) and add a 2-count of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to each pan. Put the flour in a shallow dish and season with salt and pepper, to taste. In another shallow dish, whisk together the eggs and milk and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Dredge the fillets in the seasoned flour, then dip them into the egg mixture. Allow some of the excess egg to drain off, then add them to the hot pan.

Cook 2 pieces at a time. Fry for 1½ to 2 minutes, then carefully turn the fish over to cook the other side.With a spoon, baste the fillets with the butter sauce. Repeat basting to ensure the fish remains moist. Once the other side is cooked (about 30 seconds) carefully remove the fillets from the pan to a serving platter.

Once the fillets have been removed the pan, add the chopped shallots and gently saute over low heat until translucent, about 1 minute.Deglaze the pan with the white wine and finish with the lemon juice. Swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the parsley and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon the sauce over the top of the fillets and sprinkle generously with the toasted almonds. (I did this step backwards, but it all turned out fine.)

Serve with chilled white wine and candlelight...

TASTING NOTES: This menu is one of several of Tyler's Ultimate success in my own kitchen. Truly, this menu is so easy to make, that you can do this on a work night. It's pretty fool-proof, and much cheaper than going out on a very busy night on February 14th. As for the potatoes, they are creamy and delicious!
The lemon zest works well in the potatoes, and as a side dish with fish. I've used this technique to make galric smashed potatoes by adding whole garlic cloves to the milk and omitting the lemon zest. So good!

The green beans... while I didn't get a decent photo of them, they were excellent. C'mon, melted cheese on anything is good!

All three printable recipes are at the bottom of this post. Tyler Florence-- yes, he's one of my favorite Food Network chefs.

Made with love by,

Sole Almondine (Tyler Florence)

<p>This dish is very simple to make, and it&#8217;s a classic dish of quickly sauteed filet of sole (or Tilapia works well) that has been dipped in seasoned flour and egg. A quick pan sauce made with white wine and shallots is poured on top and ...

Lemon Smashed Potatoes (Tyler Florence)

<p>A large part of what makes this recipe so good is that you cook the potatoes whole&#8212; no peeling, no slicing.<br />The spuds are cooked in whole milk and heavy creamy, with added fresh lemon zest. They are creamy and a delicious side dish to ...

Parmesan-Roasted Green Beans

<p>The photo doesn&#8217;t do this dish justice. Roasted green beans with lots of melted Parmigiano-Reggiano makes a delicious side dish. We love it served with Sole Almondine and Lemon Smashed Potatoes.</p>

Debby your photos are always beautiful! Stop thinking otherwise. They make my mouth drool :) The menu sounds great, your hubby is one lucky guy. What did you two do this year? Hope it was a great day! Happy Valentine's Day. Oh, and Tyler is a great cook and super cute.

Debby- I think your photos look terrific and I'm glad that you decided to share this one with us. We all need more of Tyler's recipes in our life! This is a winner of a dinner for sure. Everything looks delicious, but I'm really crushing on those parmesan green beans right now. I gotta have those in my life.

I never thought to roast green beans that way, though that's how I like my asparagus. In fact, I don't love green beans because they've got a waxy-ness to them that turns me off but I bet roasted like this they were delish. What a great meal for the 14th.

Welcome!

Welcome to my internet kitchen. Please, sit back and relax, and watch me make delicious food and bakery recipes. Most of my recipes are simple, flavorful meals-- and a few baked treats. I focus on using fresh, seasonal ingredients and I try to avoid using boxed mixes and processed foods. I'm having fun learning how to cook like my grandmother once did-- from scratch! I hope that my step-by-step photos will inspire a timid cook to try them. Even if you're a seasoned cook, hopefully you'll learn a new tip or two.

If you have any questions,or just want to say "hello", please feel free to email me: foodiewife@gmail.com

For Potato Lovers (Like Me)

Grab A Button

Do you "Pinterest"?

Privacy Policy

This policy is valid from 30 August 2014

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.